"Building the Post-Britney"

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NYT magazine cover story this week. Can be found here, but free reigstration is required:

Hilarious quotes from all involved and a hint at a pre-fame Joey Fatone's flirting techniques aside, it is fascinating. Its main point is that post-Britney artists (it focuses on one who about to enter the marketplace, to be launched by Clive Davis' J Records) are so malleable, which implies/indicates that: (1) Britney, et al. weren't as much as most people would think, (2) the industry is dead scared and has no idea what's next for pop -- which I think is exciting and could open it up to new sounds. (See Kylie, Craig David, and now Daniel Bedingfield being successfully imported to the U.S), and, perhaps most crucially, (3) Has the teen pop world possibly, finally ate itself? Everyone except Jim DeRogatis seems to have realized and accepted that it's manufactured and calculated about two years ago and we've had so much access to the process of making the band, video, etc., that the artist's hoping to become successful via this route are so learned about the star-making process that they shut up and go along for the ride -- which almost inherently reduces or eliminates their biggest currency: their personality. (And, for whatever reason, the pop buyer seems to have tired of it all anyway, preferring Pink and Avril Lavinge, artists they believe are displaying some 'truer' sense of self than Christina and co.)

Thoughts on the article or whether Pop really is at a crossroads?

― scott pl., Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

new "I'm the Wolfman" answers.

― scott pl., Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

new "i've been saying this for over a year now" answers

if i had jim derogatis's personality i'd be suing the manufacturers by now haha

― mark s, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Is this also why American Idol is more popular than Popstars or Making the Band (in the U.S.)? We can see the process of putting together a boy/girl band elsewhere, but these contestants are out there on their own [i]and[/i] having to prove themselves with talent and poise -- and after seeing how much control the industry has over what we listen to, are they cherishing the chance for the audience to choose its own heroes?

― scott pl., Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

"are *we* cherishing the opportunity to choose our own heroes"

sorry, it's still early...

― scott pl., Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

neat article. i'm fascinated by this clique of teen performers who've known each other from the disney circuit since they were prepubescent. i also like the way latona comes across as a bit alien but still sympathetic. the song sample on the webpage isn't very good, i think, but her line near the end about creating something lasting like the beetlejuice reunion party is pretty amazing. also, is daniel bedingfield crossing over to america??

― dave k, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

exactly: it looks like a further twist INTO corporate control except it actually cedes a buncha control (town-hall virtual-democracy style), or at least disperses it to several warring centres

― mark s, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeh but the last few years were the final battle in Disney's battle for world supremacy against L Ron Hubbard, by enacting a religious/racially charged Final Battle writ large starring former Mouseketeers Britney vs. Christina (note that 'evil' one has Hispanic surname. Uncle Walt wasn't very PC and neither was the man who invented the Fordist model of pop production. Any colour you want as long as its in heavy rotation)

― dave q, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

also, is daniel bedingfield crossing over to america??

"Gotta Get Through This" is No. 22 on the airplay chart and in the top 50 on the pop chart.

― scott pl., Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't really believe that bit about B and C being pawns of lizards. The true Lizardus Supremus Rex is Don Henley. Check out "Greeks Don't Want No Freaks" off 'Long Run' (who dares wins, right?) and you'll find it's all about the Bush family, even with a part for Lauren. (Refs 'Gator' - Jed Bush? Santo Traficante? Bay of Pigs & pro-Castro factions?) (But who were the 'boys in the band'? David Geffen? The Contras (or conversely FARC or somebody)?) How about the fact that "I Wish You Peace" on 'OOTN' is co-written by one Patti Davis Reagan (interestingly, Henley denied she was even involved and claimed to hate the song anyway - an odd triangulation), or that Henley himself did a song that went "Plenty of room at de Hotel Caleefornya!" in a cod-Mexican accent? Doesn't that seem a bit, um...well if somebody running for office in Sacramento said "Plenty of room at de Hotel Caleefornya!" in a cod-Mexican accent, they'd be seen as a bit unreconstructed, no? OK sorry about this, back to thread

― dave q, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

'Building the post-Britney' = 'Building the Perfect Beast'!!!

― dave q, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

ha A&R man J Diener is my new philospher-hero: "In the record business, today is over."

As for this talk of the audience now choosing its own heroes "town-hall virtual-democracy style", let's not get carried away. Control is always dispersed to "several warring centres". so changing "tastes" are causing some record execs to sweat over a Pink or Shania Twain approach(!). the only control being ceded here is that you get to watch.

her line near the end about creating something lasting like the beetlejuice reunion party is pretty amazing

"I want my album to be a classic... That's why these new pictures are so important." umm, THAT line? yes its pretty amazing.

― The Actual Mr. Jones, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

If everything is cyclical, we're just about at the cusp of the New Kids's Christmas Album... no wait, .... Step By Step.

― maria, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

The most important part is how much attention is being payed to the quality of her songs. Also that somehow she's convinced or maybe really HAS found herself.

― Sterling Clover, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

But what if she still hasn't found what she's looking for?

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Then she'll have to pick herself up and try again.

― Sterling Clover, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

so malleable, which implies/indicates that: (1) Britney, et al. weren't as much as most people would think

Obviously, if they'd known she was going to be a star, they'd have given her bigger boobs in the first place.

― dleone, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

the part where she discovers that she really wants to rock only to be swatted down by her handlers is almost poignant

― M Matos, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

"some artists are resistant to ideas... amanda is not resistant"

― The Actual Mr. Jones, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

i like that however obviously the writer underlines the old-hat irony of loose talk about "girl-empowerment" vs. actual situation, it leaves you to wonder whether this is cynicism on the part of the label honchos or just cluelessness.

"'The lyric to the song is so Amanda, don't you think? It's very uncompromising' He pauses. 'Some artists walk in and they won't budge. Amanda is open to direction.'"

(ps they use the word MACHINE to describe themselves!! can WE? can we can we can we please i miss it pleeeease can we???)

― The Actual Mr. Jones, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

So did Kraftwerk. And so do the Hives. Its a pose.

― Sterling Clover, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

i.e. they're not REAL AUTHENTIC machines, just fake ones.

― Sterling Clover, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

This is all a stopgap measure until the technology catches up and they can finally clone the genetically modified Marilyn lon Monroe with Madonna (Beta 2.0) ROM installed.

― earlnash, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

The minute that Britney and feminism work in tandem to further some undergraduate thesis... I'm going to resurrect the spirit of Wendy O. Williams to come back from her grave and rape Brit with a metal dildo in front of a preteen audience.

― maria, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

That's certainly (ahem) problematic.

― Sterling Clover, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Is it beside the point now to mention that the song, the thing that came out of all this committee-effort, is shit? Even by (actually, especially by) pop standards. I wanted to like it, too.

― teeny, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

no but final opinions should be reserved until we see the PICTURES. (artistic intent! etc).

(ha ha not really as completely 100% facetious as it sounds)

― The Actual Mr. Jones, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

actually, the line i found amazing/poignant was the the idea of the beetlejuice graveyard revue being her benchmark for success; it just seems like such a foreign culture... i also like the glimpse into clive davis as guru, even making specific musical suggestions. unfortunately, the song really isn't very good, although i am on some level rooting for her.

― dave k, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

The pictures look v. "mature" actually. Also, the article doesn't make clear she was in another wanna be popstar group for a year or so.

― Sterling Clover, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Infact, she looks somewhat grotesque in the wannabe britney photos, like she's trying to pass herself off as younger than she is.

― Sterling Clover, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

what struck me about this article was this:

note the exchange about the cover -- 'nobody starts off with a cover,' she's told when she talks about wanting to release 'i love rock n' roll' as her first single. and yet, who's the artist who clive davis is heavily promoting, and who's the brand-new j artist with the huge chart hit right now?

why, the 15-year-old pop singer mario. his hit? 'just a friend '02' -- a slicked-up, tricked-out something awful 'remake' of the biz markie track. (he's on the track at the end.)

does anyone profiled in these 'making of a pop star' articles ever hit it? i'm reminded most of the nyer profile of ben kweller (written by john seabrook and later incorporated into his book 'nobrow') from way back when ...

― maura, Tuesday, 6 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

"'The lyric to the song is so Amanda, don't you think? It's very uncompromising' He pauses. 'Some artists walk in and they won't budge. Amanda is open to direction.'"

This was the funniest part of the article.

I don't understand people thinking this is something new, though. I think it has always been thus with bands/artists trying to make it big and major labels. Especially on the pop end of the market.

― Nicole, Tuesday, 6 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, I was about to say. The whole thing screams 'show business!' in the classic sense, so it's more the [r*****t?] dream that artists have 'complete control, man!' that's under question here, as well it should be.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 6 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Clive Davis = Jack Woltz.

― scott pl., Tuesday, 6 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

1960's= horse's head in the bed

― The Actual Mr. Jones, Tuesday, 6 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

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